Cooking Moroccan

Yesterday, in the food section of the Washington Post, they featured recipes that used store-bought rotisserie chicken. There are several recipes I might try eventually (including one that uses Peruvian chicken--any excuse to use Pollo Rico!) but I decided to try an interesting Moroccan recipe called Chicken Bistilla. It's a mix of shredded chicken with both savory and sweet spices (saffron, ginger, cinnamon, etc.) with almonds and raisins. The chicken mixture is wrapped in phyllo dough, baked, and sprinkled with confectioners' sugar. I was intrigued. I've cooked Moroccan food before and have a great go-to chicken couscous recipe but decided to be a bit more adventurous today and wander outside my comfort zone.

Okay, the verdict? It was fascinating, unlike anything I've made before. It's a bit like mincemeat, but in a good way. I'd say it was a success and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend you try it yourself. However, it's probably not something I would make again. Life's short and there are so many great recipes out there. There's nothing wrong with trying something once and never making it again, even if it's good.

Besides, I got a package from Amazon earlier this week--both the new Barefoot Contessa cookbook and Smitten Kitchen's new cookbook. Enough to keep me busy for the next year.

That's a photo of the Chicken Bistilla that I made. (The photo the Washington Post printed actually didn't look that delish.) I won't bother to copy the recipe because I followed the Post's version exactly and you can find it online at http://projects.washingtonpost.com/recipes/2012/10/31/chicken-bistilla/.